00:00And I just still come back to that.
00:02I don't know if live golf prepares you enough from a golf course standpoint
00:07and the challenges that you see at Augusta national and just how precise you
00:11have to be.
00:12Now,
00:13maybe John is trying to take a different mental approach this season on live
00:17golf and try to narrow his focus,
00:19practice a little bit more hard,
00:21be a little bit more tougher on himself on golf courses that aren't going to be
00:24quite as difficult.
00:25That's why I think guys that have played on the PGA tour this entire season,
00:29they've played,
00:30you know,
00:30Riviera,
00:31they've played a Bay Hill when it's tough,
00:33you know,
00:34Valspar was so difficult.
00:36And then of course,
00:37just,
00:37you know,
00:37some of the events that I guess Houston wasn't that hard,
00:40but San Antonio was tough.
00:42There's just the,
00:43the level of difficulty is just a little bit higher on the PGA tour.
00:48And not to say that you can't go play a live golf schedule and win a major
00:52championship.
00:53Cause that's not true.
00:54It's happened.
00:55Brooks has done it.
00:56But when you look at his,
00:59and then when you go look at,
01:00when you just go look at his major results and he hasn't had a top five yet,
01:04I think you'll continue to say that until he either wins another major
01:09championship or contends and comes close.
01:12I know he was very close to the PGA championship.
01:15He kind of fell off late,
01:16which felt like a top five,
01:18but really just was kind of going for broke there at the end,
01:21trying to try to make a statement.
01:22Well,
01:22I think that's the interesting thing about this year is that if you're looking
01:26for like relative to your comments about course difficulty and,
01:29and how prepared,
01:30you know,
01:31in past years we've talked about,
01:32are they playing enough?
01:33Is the schedule,
01:34you know,
01:34so infrequent that they're,
01:35they're kind of accumulating rust.
01:36They're both playing courses that aren't as difficult as a PGA tour,
01:38but they're also just not playing as frequently.
01:40What rounds do that,
01:41that could make a difference.
01:42Four rounds is produced better winners on their tour this year.
01:45But I think that's,
01:46that's most interesting things.
01:47We kind of head into the next player.
01:48I have my list.
01:49Rory is like,
01:49you're looking at Scotty and Rory.
01:51The last start they both made was at the players.
01:54Yeah.
01:54Scotty of course had to lay off because,
01:55because of,
01:56you know,
01:56their,
01:57their second son arriving,
01:58but also like three starts before that,
02:00that weren't great.
02:01So you don't feel like he's really tuned up or informed the way he wants to be.
02:05You look at Rory,
02:06who was in excellent form.
02:08So let's just launch into Rory.
02:0917 starts here,
02:10of course,
02:10wins for the first time last year.
02:11It just had a tie for a second at the Genesis,
02:14kind of made a run at Jacob Bridgman coming down the stretch,
02:17goes to Bay Hill,
02:18has to withdraw for the back injury.
02:20And then the players,
02:21he shows up,
02:22you know,
02:23I think Wednesday doesn't really do a ton of practice rounds,
02:25you know,
02:26play makes the cut finishes tie for 46,
02:28but there it's,
02:30I think two things for Rory this week.
02:32They're interesting.
02:32I'm curious to hear your,
02:33your perspective on it is,
02:34you know,
02:35a guy that,
02:36that we're still not sure the status is back.
02:38He hasn't played since the players and there just has to be a level
02:42of responsibility or commitment for the previous year's champion,
02:45especially when it's someone like Rory,
02:47where he is such a favorite of the members,
02:50a favorite of the patrons,
02:51a guy that they wanted to win for so long that that's a lot to manage when
02:55you're also trying to go out and win the premier golf tournament of the
02:57year.
02:58I have no idea how Rory's going to play.
03:00I really have no clue.
03:02He's you know,
03:04just,
03:04he's got a lot going on,
03:05right?
03:05He's got injury that happened.
03:07Like you mentioned at Bay Hill.
03:08He's got this doc that you talked about.
03:11I feel like it's just been busy for him.
03:13Yeah.
03:13He's really relished being the master's champion.
03:16Is he going to be in the right frame of mind to,
03:18to want to go out and win another green jacket?
03:21You would think as soon as he tees it up,
03:23the answer would be yes.
03:24But has he had enough starts this year?
03:26Has he had enough good reps and contention?
03:29He played well at Genesis,
03:30which is a typically a good comp for Augusta,
03:33but Genesis was rain soaked this year.
03:35It was soft guys are having to control spin.
03:37So it's not exactly the same tests that we're going to see this week at the
03:40masters.
03:41The one thing that I looked back at last year and was surprised that when I
03:45looked at the stats was how well Rory McIlroy ironed it.
03:48I think when you go back and look at all of the Sunday highlights,
03:52you're all iron shots.
03:53And I,
03:53I always questioned whether Rory was going to win the masters because I
03:57didn't know if he was going to be able to iron it consistent enough,
04:01especially with his wedges to be able to win.
04:04I knew he was going to be able to drive it well enough.
04:06His putting has taken leaps and bounds.
04:09I consider him to be a top 10 putter in the world.
04:12He's been a very,
04:13very good pitcher of the golf ball,
04:14good creativity there,
04:16but you always wonder,
04:17it's like,
04:17man,
04:18is he,
04:18is he ever have his iron game quite as good?
04:21You know,
04:21cause his driver swing,
04:23how it transfers to his iron game sometimes causes him to have either left
04:27misses or just not be able to hold fades.
04:30But last year it was good.
04:31It was very,
04:32very good.
04:32Obviously the iconic shot he hits,
04:34he really calls it the best shot of his life on 15.
04:36I mean,
04:37it's about as good as it gets there.
04:40And,
04:40and then,
04:40you know,
04:41prior to that,
04:41I mean,
04:42the,
04:42the mistake he made on 13 to make double was just with a wedge in his
04:45hand,
04:45something that should just be as simple as possible.
04:47So,
04:47yeah,
04:48I mean,
04:48I think,
04:49look,
04:49I mean,
04:49a healthy Rory McIlroy should be right there near the top of our
04:53favorites,
04:53but you just,
04:54you just don't know.
04:55Yeah.
Comments